Infant&#39;s garment



Sept. 15, 1953 P. G. SIEGEL ET AL INFANTS GARMENT Filed Nov. 28, 1952 FIG. 2

INVENTORS.

M g .m S 6 .m M P Mortin Stein Patented Sept. 15, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INFANTS GARMENT Philip G. Siegel, Flushing, and Martin Stein, New York, N. Y., assignors to Perfect K-n'itTogs, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application November 28, 1952, Serial'No. 323,100

.1 Claim. 1

The present invention relates to an infants garment having means for holding a disposable diaper therein.

The general object of the present invention is to provide an infants garment having a shirt portion and a moisture proof pants portion, and means for releasably securing in a quick, safe and easy manner a disposable diaper to said pants portion.

It is well known that infants lack sufiicient control to make it necessary for reasons of health and comfort to change their diapers frequently during the course of the day. The features of speed, safety and ease of access are highly important attributes of a garment of this type in order to alleviate some or the time consuming and unpleasant aspects of caring for an infant or small child. It will be readily apparent to any parent that a garment embodying the invention herein, will greatly facilitate the burdensome task of keeping the child clean and .dry. Thus, a particular object of the present invention is to provide an infants garment which affords means for the quick, safe and easy method of changing disposable diapers.

In garments of the type known as training pants, 1. e. cloth diapers, etc., it has been a customary practice to use safety pins in securing such diapers to a childs ibody. Since a child, while being diapered, most usually does not he still, but may squirm or thrash about, this type of diapering operation is extremely dangerous in that, one of the two people involved may be jabbed with the pins. Aiurther and very important object of the present invention is to pro.- vide an infants garment which eliminates the use of diapering pins.

Another feature of the present invention is the provision of an infants garment having .a shirt and pants portion, said garment having means for partly or entirely separating the pants from the shirt portion. As has been mentioned previously, one of the most important aspects of diaepering a child, is the speed with which this can be done, not only to minimize the troublesome task for the person doing it, but also to alleviate the uncomfortable feeling of the :child. This can be accomplished by the simple method or" partly removing the pants portion from the shirt, extracting a fouled diaper and inserting a clean and fresh one therein. The other features of having the garment "made in both separable shirt and pants portions, are the different combinations of colors which can be obtained, and the advantage of. not having to launder both portions at the same time.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide an infants garment that is in its entirety easy to put on and take off, thus greatly simplifying the task of dressing and undressing the child.

Further objects of the present invention are to provide an infants garment which is easy and inexpensive to manufacture, comfortable and 2 well fitting, neat and attractive in appearance, which allows the maximum of bodily freedom, .does not interfere with blood circulation, is waterproo-fed in the parts where required, will not charts or irritate the tender skin .of the child, and withstand repeated launderings.

These and still further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following desorip -tion, and from the drawing, in which one embodiment of the invention is shown by way of illus- :tration.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front view-of the garment with portions partly broken away. 'In this view the front of the pants portion has been opened and spread out to show the method by which a diaper secured and held in place;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the garment completely closed and in the manner in which it would be worn by a child;

Fig. :3 is an enlarged front view of one of diaper securing members and parts of the pants portion; and

Fig. 4 is a section taken along line i-i of Fig. 1.

The illustrated embodiment is an iniantfs vmerit, comprising a shirt portion designated it and a pants portion .ll. .Sh-irt portion it is proyided witha neck opening gl2 and sleeves and consists of two sections, the front section Elia and back section 1 (lb. Both sections iiiaand lii'a are securedtoxthe sleeves l3 and are secured together along side seams i4. However, the two sections tile and Lilb :are not permanently fastened together along the shoulder seams but are rather held in the closed position by buttons it. Thus, the Whole .top of the shirt portion it may be opened from one sleeve seam to the other, and this combined with the provisions for complete opening of the pants portion 5 1,:permits the gar ment to be easily .donned or removed.

The pants portion ll .of the garment is comprised .of a front panel iii and a rear panel ii. Pants portion 1-] consists .01 .a piece of fabric which when laid in .aflat position is generally of an hourrglass form. This fabric may be any suitable material customarily used fo r this type of garment and consists of an outer surface it and an inner surface it. said inner surface is bei-ngmade' waterproof lay-applying to it any suit able material for this purpose, preferably a plastic. In the approximate center of pants portion ll, concave leg openings 26 are provided to permit said pants portion H to fit about the legs of the wearer.

Mounted about the periphery of pants portion ll and the lower extremities of shirt portion suitable snap fasteners '21 are provided for releasably securing pants portion ll to shirt portion it, along the waist line, and side edges of said pants portion .11. Of course, any other conventional type of fastener may be used, such as buttons. Female members 22 of the snap fasteners 2| are secured along the edges and top portions of front,

panel Hi, and along the top portions of rear panel l7. Male members 23 of the snap fasteners 2| are secured to the bottom edges of shirt portion l and along the side edges of rear panel IT. The fasteners are applied in this manner so that a smooth juncture is formed when the panels have been secured to the shirt and to each other.

A pair of diaper securing members 24 and 25 which are essentially tabs made of a flexible material such as plastic, are centrally located along the latitudinal edges of front panel l3 and rear panel ll. Diaper securing members 24 and 25 are attached to reinforcing tapes 26 and 27 by stitching 28. Reinforcing tapes 26 and 27 in turn are attached to front panel [6 and rear panel ll by suitable stitching 29 on the waterproof surface of pants portion I, see particularly Fig. 1.

Substantially in the center of diaper securing members 24 and 25, a die-cut has been made resembling a crescent having serrated edges 30 and 36a. It will be understood that the serrated die cuts need not be crescent-shaped, as any desired general shape which will provide a flap may be used. serrated edges 30 and 30d are provided for securin thereto a diaper 3|. Said diaper 3| may or may not be of the disposable type, but must have highly absorbent and soft qualities. Some suitable materials being layers of tissue paper, cloth, and cotton gauze.

Secured by stitching 32 to the outside and along the lateral edges of panels l6 and H, are a pair of flaps 33 and 34 which form a pair of oppositely disposed and cooperating longitudinal pockets 35 and 35a into which a dry, clean and fresh diaper is inserted after a previously fouled diaper has been removed.

Flaps 33 and 34 are made of a moisture proof flexible plastic material such as Vinylite. This combined with the provision of waterproofing the inner surface i9 of pants portion l| permits the inside of pants portion II to be completely water repellant. A further feature of flaps 33 and 34 is to hold and retain diaper 3| in proper alinement within pockets 35 and 35a, thus preventing said diaper 3| from shifting about and always giving the garment that dressed up look. Flaps 33 and 34 each consists of a single piece of flexible plastic material folded once upon itself and the free edges stitched to the periphery of pants portion The inner edges of said flaps 33 and 34 being round will not out, chafe or irritate the tender skin of a child.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 3, wherein diaper securing members 24 and 25 are best shown, it can be seen that between the ends 36 and 31 of the die-cut an arcuate flap 38 is provided having a pivotal edge 39. Flap 38 is provided with serrated edges 30a about its entire periphery which assist in securing diaper 3|.

The method in whichdiaper securing members 23 and 25 releasably secure diaper 3| thereto is as follows After removing a fouled diaper from pockets 35 and 35a and rotating the arcuate flap 38 to the position shown in Fig. 3, the approxioperation is then repeated at the opposite diaper securing member thus enabling both horizontal edges of diaper 3| to be secured. To release diaper 3| from diaper securing members 24 and 25, a person doing the diapering would simply place a finger of either hand underneath diaper securing members 24 and 25, allow the finger to come in contact with the pressed-in portion of diaper 3| and exert pressure in an upward direction against flap 38. This will permit serrated edges 30 and 30a to disengage the diaper 3|, thus completely releasing it.

As shown clearest in Fig. 1, the front panel 16 and the rear panel I! can be completely swung away from each other pivoting about the crotch line 43 of pants portion II. It can thus be seen that ready and full access to the diaper 3| and diaper securing members 24 and '25 is provided.

A further advantage illustrated in the embodiment of Fig. 1 is, that the infants diaper may be changed without completely unclothing it.

While the present invention, though shown to be adapted for use in a garment having both a shirt and pants portion In and H respectively, and the particular embodiment described is of that type, it is to be noted that this is not to be considered as a limitation on the scope of the invention. The invenion is readily adaptable for use in a garment without the shirt portion H1. The pants portion I could be provided with suitable means, such as an elastic band to hold it to the waist of the wearer, thus eliminating the shirt portion I8 secured thereto, and the snap fasteners 2| provided for this purpose.

Although th embodiment shown does not include the feature of concealed fastening elements, it is readily apparent that this feature could be incorporated in the pants portion ll of the garment. By folding under the edges of front panel l6 and securing the female fastening members 22 to the folded over portion, no part of the entire fastening elements 2| would be visible from the outside of the garment. The same could be done with the female fastening members 22 of rear panel This has the advantage of providing a garment of neater appearance, the fastening elements 2| being completely concealed.

We claim:

An infants garment comprising pants constl tuted of a fabric having longitudinal edges and being folded on a transverse line with portions of said longitudinal edges releasably attached to each other, means for releasably securing a diaper to said fabric comprising tabs of flexible material secured to opposite ends of said fabric, each of said tabs having a serrated die-cut therethrough to form a flap whereby an edge of said diaper may be clamped into each of said tabs by means of the flap associated therewith.

PHILIP G. SIEGEL. MARTIN STEIN.

References Cited in the file of this patent v UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,297,474 Jones Mar. 18, 1919 1,765,105 Skinner June 17, 1930 2,518,631 Mullen Aug. 15, 1950 2,524,221 Feeney Oct. 3, 1950 2,545,674 Ralph Mar. 20, 1951 2,570,428 Clifford Oct. 9, 1951 2,574,279 Oberle Nov. 6, 1951 2,575,163 Donovan Nov. 13, 1951 2,606,558 Kennette Aug. 12, 1952 

